Allegations have surfaced that prime minister Rishi Sunak’s team paid athletes to be pictured with him during a visit to the Wokingham constituency last week.
It has also been alleged they were told not to ask controversial questions.
The prime minister was at the Leander Club on the Wokingham side of the River Thames on Monday, June 3.
Images of him talking to rowers, with a boat of Liberal Democrat members sailing down the River Thames behind him, made national news.
Now, a popular podcast citing an email from the father of one of the rowers, has made a number of accusations about how the visit was handled.
The Trawl podcast is produced By Global Media Group and presented by political and current affairs commentators Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte.
In its latest episode, the presenters said they had received an email from the parent which noted that when first approached, athletes from the club said they considered that the photo opportunity would be too disruptive to their preparations for the forthcoming Henley Regatta.
It also said that conditions were imposed for those women who eventually agreed to take part, one being that they couldn’t ask the Prime Minister anything controversial.
Another was that those being filmed would need to be British.
They were also asked if they had any favourable views on the Conservative policy regarding biological sex and gender identification.
The email, the text of which has been seen by Wokingham Today, said: “Not one athlete would agree to these conditions or volunteered initially.
“The group who were filmed were paid £50 each to be filmed with the prime minister. The payment was a welcome fillip to their bank accounts.”
The parent also said that an Irish international rower, along with some members of the visiting Australian national squad agreed to be filmed in return for payment.
“These ‘volunteers’ are clearly not eligible to vote in the forthcoming general election.”.
Allegations were also made in the email that the rowers who were eventually filmed were asked, in one segment, to walk 10-metres behind the Prime Minister so as to appear similar in height.
The event has echoes of Donald Trump rallies in the United States, where actors are invited to attend in exchange for a payment.
A Conservative party spokesperson from its campaign headquarters told Wokingham Today: “These allegations are completely false and untrue.
“There are always some restrictions in place on visits by the Prime Minister due to security, but the claims made bear no resemblance to what happened at this visit.”
